Part 4: The Chop Shop Stop

Part 04 - The Chop Shop Stop




Landing on the Sea-Tac airport and heading off to the infamously crime-ridden Redmond Barrens in order to investigate the fate of a murdered man is a surprisingly popular pastime in the Shadowrun universe.

Death and Bleach is also the name of my goth anime club, by the way. We're pretty cool.







Y'know, for a body part chop shop called "Organ Grinders" located in what is probably the worst part of town, this place is surprisingly tidy.

Also as little of any use as we had in the flashback, now we literally have nothing outside the clothes on our back. Someone here better have at least a zip gun for us or things'll get hairy in the slums.


Understandable when visiting a cheap morgue, distressing when visiting a cheap dentist.

Might as well go say hello to what one would assume is the coroner over there.



Sorry, didn't expect any visitors at this hour. And some asshole at corporate took my receptionist. What can I do for you, ma'am?

Someone using the word "asshole" is weirdly refreshing amongst all this drekking and fragging.

Are you the coroner?

I'm John Dresden, the Organ Grinders Branch Manager here. So yeah, that makes me this franchise area's coroner, too. And you are?

Amazon. I'm here about Sam Watts.

[His grin fades.] And what makes you think I know anything about that?

Sam had a locator chip embedded in his skull. I followed it here.

I see. Well, you're right, he's here. Not too many people know about the murder yet, though... the press haven't caught wind of it yet, what with it being all the way out here in the Barrens. So who told you he was dead?

Now we could immediately spill the beans about the entire 100k deal to this complete stranger, but as jolly as he appears to be, that seems like a real dumb move. Let's be at least a little more vague.

Sam's digital ghost. When his heart stopped, I got sent a recorded message asking me to bring his killer to justice. Guess he had a hunch.

[The dwarf raises his eyebrows, a smile wiping the suspicion from his face.]

A dead man's switch, eh? Fascinating! I was working on him earlier. He's over here.

We follow him to a small side room behind the pair of curtains.



Poor Sam, you seemed like a decent enough guy. At least whoever killed you was nice enough not to dump your body into the ocean or something. I hate underwater levels.

He's my second Emerald City Ripper victim. The third one was downtown.

Ripper, huh? I guess the classics never go out of style.

[He sighs.] Not my title. That's what the Seattle press insists on calling the killer. All I know is that like the original Jack, our Ripper knows how to handle a scalpel. But this one's even more twisted... he or she always removes an internal organ from the victim.

Delicious. A trophy hunter. What was it?

Watts' liver was cleanly cut out.

Hey, what do you call someone with no liver? A deader! Haha get it, because

How about the other lucky contestants?

The first victim's heart was missing, and the third had the spleen removed.






An ork calls Dresden back to the main room, leaving us alone with Sam and a defenseless Basic Medkit which we snatch from the nearby tray. As you can probably guess, the open palm icon indicates things you can operate or manipulate in some way. Let's see if we can find any clues from the body.



[Next to Sam are several plastic envelopes containing the evidence found on his body. You can examine evidence through the bag without spoiling it.]

Well that's convenient enough. First off there's a business card.



Huh, did Sam have an interest in sewing? Then again that could just as well be the brothel he was talking about.

Next up is an unsecured credstick which we immediately slot for ‎300¥, completely disregarding the previous notion of not tampering with the evidence. Stealing from the dead has never been so convenient!

After that there's a purple shirt.



Lovely. Finally, there's a handwritten note of some kind, because in Shadowrun those apparently still exist in 2054.



At least we have a name to work with, although it's hard to tell what her relationship with Sam was beyond the fact that they were at least somewhat close, apparently had had some kind of a disagreement, and were going to meet somewhere.

That's all we can do here, so let's head back to see who's visiting.




So this new Ripper vic, Watts... name's familiar. Didn't his mother kill herself a while back?

[The coroner frowns.]

So you insisted at the time.

[He chortles.] C'mon, she offed herself... I had it on very good authority. Now let's go, Dresden - give me something to work with here. This Ripper case is my ticket to a Lieutenant's badge.

I can already tell we're dealing with the force's finest here.

I've already posted everything I know. The killer stuns the target with a combination of drugs and magic, then removes a single internal organ while they're still alive. The perpetrator is most likely right-handed, with a slim hand that knows its way around a scalpel. Has a decent understanding of human and metahuman anatomy, too.

So... I'm looking for a whacked-out surgeon?

Not necessarily. I don't know any surgeons who still use scalpels, anymore. These days it's all done with computer-controlled lasers. Could be anyone from a military field surgeon to an antique medicine aficionado.

You're no damn help, dwarf.

[The Lone Star detective finally notices you. You note his superhuman powers of observation.]

Even the in-game description's getting all sassy. The Lone Star Security Services is, to put it briefly, the private security and policing firm in North America and handle most law enforcement and security work amongst other things. It goes without saying that even the police are a literal corporation in Shadowrun.

Who the hell 're you?

With a Strength check of 4 we could tell him off and call him "Lumpy" but alas, all that time spent on the internet and playing with drones has left Amazon with the muscles of a toddler.

I'm new in town. You the welcoming committee?

If you're new in town, then let me be the first to tell you that I run the show. If you get in my way, you'll end up back here on a slab.

[He looks back at the dwarf.] Dresden, get me more. I am putting someone in a cell or a box THIS week and claiming my promotion!

The meathead detective walks away, but it doesn't take a gambling man to bet that he'll come back to get in our way in the future.



Well, he didn't really seem like my type.

[He cocks his head to one side.] Be straight with me. You really gonna work for the dead man?

Sam was there when I needed him. I'm going to return the favor.

Plus we're jobless, friendless, broke and had literally nothing else to do aside from counting days until we got kicked out of our figurative trash can into a literal one.

Fascinating again! Detective McKlusky isn't interested in anything but Detective McKlusky. He'd convict his own mother if it meant another 10 nuyen a week in his paycheck. Plus, he's on the take.

[Dresden pauses, considering.]

You have honor, after a fashion. I try to honor the dead in my work, so we have that in common. What can I do to help you?

There's a variety of topics we can ask him about now. Like I said in the first update, dialogue is a big part of these games and this guy's particularly chatty since we need to get the basics set up.

McKlusky's on the take? Who's paying to hold his leash?

I don't know, but someone with some major pull has been looking out for McKlusky's career. And wallet.

And what was that he said about Sam's mother?

The official report is that she committed suicide about a year ago.

Aren't you the "official" in that sentence?

My name's on the report, but my actual findings left some... doubts. I can't say that it wasn't suicide, but there were unusual bruises on her upper arms, and she didn't use her dominant hand to pull the trigger. I was told to drop it, so I dropped it.

Hey yeah, now that I think about it I bet Sam surgically extracted his own liver as well. Case closed, hand us our hundred grand.

What are organs worth these days, anyway?



Who still uses scalpels?

Doctors still learn how to use them in their first year of medical school - as do coroners - but neither profession uses them much any more. It's possible some of the slimier chop shops still use scalpels, I suppose, but I wouldn't know where to look.

Have you heard of the Seamstresses Union?

It's a nearby club in the Barrens that attracts lowlifes. You'd probably like it.

Wow, wait, what, did we just get burned?

Me, I'm not really the going-out type. Always too much to be done around here. Plus, the dead are just easier to get along with.

Okay, then I just need to know one more thing. Where was Sam killed?

[Dresden looks up at you intently for a moment before speaking.]

You know, I might be able to do you one better. Why don't you poke around those body lockers in the back and see if you can find anything... useful.

Ah come on now, we've been here long enough already. Just spill the beans so that we can get moving.

Do you know where the murder site is or not?



Goddamnit fine okay, but for that you can say goodbye to the rest of your medical supplies. It's not like dead people have any use for revival items anyway.



Our chat with Dresden awarded us with 2 Karma as well. Unlike in most games, Karma is primarily received from advancing the plot and resolving situations rather than from killing. "Resolving situations" and "killing" are not mutually exclusive though, not by a long shot.



This better be worth it. Man, what if Dresden's the killer and this is all some kinda sick joke where it turns out that he murdered Sam right here and there's just gonna be a pile of organs in the locker and he'll knock us out and take our nose or something

[The cold storage locker is labeled "John Doe" but the internal thermostat is set to 21 degrees celsius.]

Wait, that's room temperature. What kinda cold storage is this even supposed to be?



Oh look there was a fresh corpse in the corpse locker, you're such a fucking funnyman Dresden. How is this supposed to








...The hell?


Concept art: The Morgue